Apr. 7, 2014

Lincoln County District Attorney Donald Dunphy make his opening statement with a photograph of Anita Bucki to his left at the Lincoln County Court House in Merrill in the murder trial of Mark Bucki, Monday, April 7, 2014. / Dan Young/Daily Herald Media

Mark Bucki

Timeline of events

April 25: Anita Bucki, after a month-long separation, returns to the town of Corning home she owned with her husband, Mark Bucki. April 26: Mark Bucki officially reports his wife missing. April 28: Police launch a massive ground and water search for Anita Bucki. May 9: Human remains are found in Taylor County in a remote area 20 miles from the Buckis’ home. May 13: The body found in Taylor County is identified as that of Anita Bucki; police arrest Mark Bucki on preliminary homicide charges. May 14: Prosecutors file first-degree intentional homicide charges against Mark Bucki; bond is set at $2 million cash. July 25: Mark Bucki is bound over for trial at a preliminary hearing. An attempt by defense attorneys to have bond reduced is not successful. Sept. 20: Mark Bucki is arraigned on homicide charges. Oct. 1: Attorneys James Lex and Jessica Schuster ask Lincoln County Circuit Judge Jay Tlusty to dismiss all charges against Mark Bucki; the request is denied. Monday: Jury selection begins at the start of a nine-day trial for Mark Bucki, who remains in custody.

Mark Bucki

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MERRILL — On the first day of the trial for a town of Corning man accused of killing his wife, jurors heard that Anita Bucki was desperately trying to save her crumbling marriage in the hours and days leading up to her death.

Instead, jurors were told, Anita Bucki, 48, was strangled and suffered seven closely grouped stab wounds to the chest; her lifeless body, still clad in a favorite bathrobe, was dumped 18 miles away in a Taylor County swamp. Lincoln County District Attorney Donald Dunphy spent about 30 minutes Monday outlining his case to the seven men and eight women who are tasked with determining the guilt or innocence of Anita Bucki’s husband, 50-year-old Mark Bucki.

Mark Bucki, wearing a crisply pressed dress shirt and khaki pants, appeared Monday in Lincoln County Circuit Court, where he faces charges of first-degree intentional homicide, strangulation/suffocation and concealing a corpse in connection with his wife’s death. No additional suspects have been charged.

Dunphy told jurors Mark Bucki, who reported his wife missing April 26, was “disinterested in law enforcement efforts to find Anita” and went to great lengths to cover up his involvement in her death by setting fire to evidence — including a large section of carpet — in a burn pit before contacting police. Dunphy said Mark Bucki killed his wife because he had a new girlfriend and wanted Anita Bucki out of his life.

But Jessica Schuster, a defense attorney who represents Mark Bucki, painted a very different picture of Anita Bucki’s death and told jurors the couple’s marriage had been “falling apart for years” and that Anita Bucki was “fully aware” her husband was involved with another woman. Schuster said there is no evidence Mark Bucki killed his wife; no blood was found inside the home matching Anita Bucki, and the murder weapon has never been found.

“There is not a single piece of physical evidence that ties Mark Bucki to Anita’s death,” Schuster said. “Mark wants to know what happened to Anita, too.”

Mark Bucki told investigators he and his wife argued about their crumbing marriage for hours the night of April 25 and went to sleep in separate rooms, according to court documents. When Mark Bucki awoke at 6 a.m., he found Anita was gone; her wallet, containing more than $3,000 cash, was left behind along with her cellphone, purse and car keys, according to his statement. Twelve hours later, Mark Bucki called police.

After a massive ground and water search, Anita Bucki’s body was found May 9 in Taylor County. Mark Bucki was arrested May 13, two days after investigators with the Wisconsin State Crime Lab positively identified the body as that of Anita Bucki, and he remains jailed on a $2 million bond.

Prosecutors will call their first witnesses Tuesday; the trial is expected to last nine days.